


The Situation

by CatHerder



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21762421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatHerder/pseuds/CatHerder
Summary: Cyborg realizes he likes the same person as his best friend. Now how should he handle this?
Relationships: Cy/Rae, Cyborg and Raven
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	The Situation

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. This is just a fan work.

What was he doing here again? Cyborg wondered to himself as his best friend sat across from him in a booth at a dirty burger joint they discovered after defeating some villain or another. His best friend, Beast Boy, was currently spilling his heart out about a purple haired member of their team. This wasn’t anything new, it was actually becoming quite routine as of late.

Cyborg no longer bothered interrupting his friend. It was understood that he wasn’t here for that. Beast Boy didn’t want advice. Needed it. Definitely needed it, but it's not like he hadn’t heard it all before. Engaging her in things she’s interested in, asking her out for tea, or just letting her know how he felt.

Maybe Beast Boy didn’t really want to date Raven, so much as indulge in the idea of dating Raven. Loving the state of infatuation more than the actuality of a relationship. After all, controlled infatuation is not something that can affect a friendship. Years later, they might be able to chuckle about a past crush he used to have on her. This would exchange possible painful memories of broken hearts and bitter arguments with reminiscing about a perfect Raven that he could never have. Which might be the actual problem here. Beast Boy had put Raven on a pedestal of sorts. She wasn’t just Raven, their friend and teammate. To Beast Boy, she was a beautiful dark goddess that had captured his heart. 

“Did you see the way she swooped in last night? Totally demolished that muscle head I was wrestling! I mean, not like I needed the help, but she’s always looking out for me. Ya know?” Beast Boy asked, not waiting for a reply before jumping to another topic about their cloaked friend. Cyborg munched on the remains of a lukewarm burger and cold fries that were soggy with ketchup. 

Robin used to join them on these boy’s excursion. Not anymore. The boy wonder lacked the patience for aimless chatter. Once he realized Beast Boy wasn’t ever going to take him up on his advice, he stopped coming. Cyborg would have followed right behind him, but he just couldn’t bring himself to abandon his best green dude. Everybody needed an outlet to express themselves, even if what was being expressed was utter trash.

After reaching down for some fries and returning with a hand covered in ketchup, Cyborg realized his plate was empty, which signalled the end of their conversation.  
“You know your beyond burger is probably cold by now?” Cyborg pointed to Beast Boy’s plate. Reminding the green fellow that he’d barely touched his food.

“Ah! Oh no. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Beast boy complained.

“Not my job to make sure you eat. I’m not your mother man.” Cyborg countered.

“Not cool bro. Not cool.” Beast Boy put on a pained expression as he took a few bites from his now cold veggie burger. “You know I lose track of things when I’m talking about Raven.”

Cyborg rolled his eye. “Wouldn’t you rather be talking to Raven?” 

Beast Boy spit out his burger. “You crazy dude? I can’t do that. What would I even talk about with her? She'd totally just call me lame bro.”

And right back to the beginning they went. This ouroborus of his friend's endless infatuation. “Whatever man. I’m going to pay, then, we're going home. We’ve been here over two hours now.” He feigned irritation as he got up from the table. Couldn’t get too mad about this since he would use it to guilt Beast Boy into assisting him with car maintenance.

___

Cyborg grimaced once he observed what time it was. Occasionally he'd get an idea for a new implementation for his body and would spend days trying to realize it, if uninterrupted. It was three in the morning, so he’d only been at it for nine hours.  
Not too bad.

Sadly, an eye that could shoot laser beams wasn’t in the cards just yet. “I can make some waffles though. Waffles beat lasers anyday.” A majority of Cyborg’s trek to the Tower’s kitchen was filled with mumbling about waffles and lasers. 

“Hm?” Cyborg observed a low light coming from the living room as he approached from the hallway. “Oh. You’re still awake Rae?”

Raven looked up from her book and graced her teammate with a bored look. It wouldn't be too surprising if she was rolling her eyes under that hood of hers. “I’m obviously not asleep. Do you enjoy stating the obvious?” She promptly returned to her book, treating the cybernetic titan like he didn't exist.

“Heh.” After a chuckle escaped, Cyborg slapped a hand over his mouth and pretended to cough.

“Something funny Cyborg?” Raven was yet again looking his way, but that emotionless look now had traces of frustration. 

“Nah. I was about to make waffles though. Want me to make you some too?” Hopefully this distraction would save him. He may not hold her on a pedestal like Beast Boy, but Raven wasn’t some one he wanted to make angry.

Raven silently observed him for a moment before nodding and turning back to her book. “Eggs too please.”

“Scrambled with cheese?” 

“...mhm.” Raven softly replied without acknowledging what was asked.

Now in the kitchen and prepping a super late breakfast, Cyborg allowed his mind to wander to his teammate in the living room. His feelings for Raven were a fairly recent development. Infact, it was actually Beast Boy’s fault. The green teens constant banter about their teammate had succeeded in capturing his own focus on her. He’d liken it to a friend watching a new t.v. show. They will go and try and get their friend just as involved with it. The friend will then check out the show to see if it is actually that good. Of course in this case, Beast Boy didn’t actually want Cyborg to start observing Raven and even worse to fall for her. 

It wasn’t long after Cyborg started paying a bit more attention to the darker titan that his feelings began to destabilize. Instead of aloof, she was awkward. Her short retorts and sarcasm were probably just shields against longer social interaction. He couldn’t help, but find it amusing how Beast Boy viewed it as intimidating. Labeling Raven impossible to approach. 

What does her laugh sound like? Her fleeting grins were treasures, but what did her full smile look like? What came after small talk? Was it possible to drag Raven out of her comfort zone for long enough to observe the entire spectrum of her emotions? Could He be the person to light up those purple eyes? 

But Beast Boy. He couldn’t do that to his best bud. Not that Raven belonged to him or anything. It just didn’t sit right. On the other hand, Beast Boy was never going to ask Raven out, so why wait for him to make a move that wasn't coming? 

This would require a heart to heart with his friend. Cyborg wasn’t looking forward to that. After all, this was his best friend. Nobody else in the tower loved video games to the same degree as the two of them did.

Before any of that though, Cyborg wanted to know Raven more. Was she someone that was worth fawning over like this? Infatuation had a way of blinding people from the negative aspects of the other person. 

Speaking of the devil. "Is it ready yet?" Raven hovered into the kitchen with plans to prepare some herbal tea.

"Just about." Cyborg smiled. Raven was attracted to the smell of good food just like anybody else. Nobody was really normal among the titans, yet everybody even if it was subconscious, walked on eggshells around Raven. Just how different was she though? The longer he watched her, the less threatening she became.

Raven grabbed a tea cup and then paused. "...Would you also like some tea?" 

Cyborg raised an eyebrow and cocked his head a bit. "Herbal tea?"

"What other tea do I make?" Raven sarcastically replied.

"Is it good?" 

"I think so."

Cyborg took a moment to scrap the eggs out of the frying pan and into two separate plates. All finished with breakfast, he turned and stared at her.

She stared back. 

With her hood down, Cyborg could plainly see the slight confusion and uncomfort growing in her eyes. Amusing. "Sure Rae, I'll take a cup of tea."

"Took you long enough." Raven hurriedly grabbed a second cup and went about preparing and then pouring both full of tea. She did a poor job of hiding the slight blush on her face.

Pretty soon, they both sat with a mountain of waffles, scrambled eggs, and tea in front of them. Cyborg attacked his food as if he'd been starved for days. Raven sweat dropped at the sight. "Thanks for the food Cyborg."

"No problem." Cyborg breathlessly said in between mouthfuls of food. Mere moments later, his plate was sparkling clean and his belly was bloated. Somehow, he still put on a gracefully display as he took a sip of tea. "I've been up all night trying to modify my eye so it can shoot laser beams!"

Raven didn't verbally rely, but her face seem to be saying, "I don't remember asking." This was probably throwing her off. After all, the only person on the team who usually chatted her up was Starfire. Which seemed to annoy Raven at first, but now days Raven occasionally initiated their conversations. "Don't you have a sonic cannon for that?" Raven finally asked to break what she considered an awkward silence.

Cyborg smiled. "That's what I used to think, but hear me out here Rae."

Also finished with her food, Raven leaned back in her chair with her tea in hand. "...go on."

"Let's say I'm grappling some strong villain and we're at a stalemate. We'd just be standing their glaring at each other, right?"

"Okay.’ She paused to sip some tea. “Couldn't one of us just assist you?" 

"But you guys are occupied with other people, or, what if I'm alone?"

Raven simply stared for a moment, then took a sip from her tea. Cyborg took that as a sign of agreement. "Then, I could blast whoever's I'm grappling in the face with my laser beam. And bam! I'm free!" 

"That, does make sense." Raven admitted. She tilted her head "I'm guessing it not working out though."

"Not at all."

"That's too bad."

"It's all good. Constantly having a problem to figure out is what keeps me sane."

Silently drinking more tea seemed to be her response.

"This is actually good. I mean, it's not soda, but I can get the appeal." 

Raven grinned. "Doesn't all that soda make you and Beast Boy sick?

"You ask as if we're normal."

She chuckled. "I suppose you have a point there." She took a sip from her tea. "Normal, huh?"

Even with all his thoughts on the matter of not putting Raven on a pedestal and treating her normally, Cyborg was still thrown off by the ease of this conversation. Not only was she grinning, he squeezed a little laugh out of her. "So what's keeping you up tonight Rae?" And just like that, the merry atmosphere disappeared.

It was as if she had never been smiling. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh." He messed up. Opening up to her was fine, but he should have waited before prying into her business like that. "I'll clean up here, you can get back to your book if you want."

Raven put her hood up and they sat in silence for a noticeable minute. “If you’re forcing yourself, you really don’t have to. I...I’m.” She paused and then sighed. “Thanks for the waffles. Good night Cyborg.” That said, she up and hovered away. Only stopping to scoop up her book on the way out. 

“Well, shit.”

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Greetings fellow humans! It has been nearly ten years since the last time I uploaded a fanfiction. Been even longer since I watched the Teen Titan’s animated series. Their voices are still pretty strong in my head strangely enough, so I hope I don’t write them too out of character. This will most likely be a CyRae fic, but who knows. I’m a sucker for sad stories, so it might just end up with a Beast Boy and Raven pairing. I am already aware that I'm shit at creating titles. Constructive criticism is always welcome. That's all!


End file.
